This Beauty and the Beast Theory About Belle's Village Explains a Major Plot Hole in the Live-Action Movie

If you watched the live-action reboot of Beauty and the Beast, then you know all about a pesky plot hole that happens at the very end. Once Belle and Beast's true love breaks the spell, Beast turns back into a prince and his servants become human again. We then watch a very touching montage of Beast's servants reuniting with their family members (who all, coincidentally, live in Belle's village), but there's a problem: No one has aged! Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth instantly recognize their spouses in the crowd of villagers, which is odd. Wouldn't they have aged with the passage of time? We know from the 1993 animated Beauty and the Beast that the Beast and his servants don't age under the spell, but how can we explain the townspeople's ability to freeze the clock?

And Hainted's evidence is pretty convincing. For starters the movie blatantly states that the Enchantress "erased memories of the prince, his lands, and servants" from villagers' minds when she performed her spell on the castle, which explains why no one is distraught over the disappearance of their family members. But Hainted takes it a step further: The user alleges that right after the Enchantress cursed Beast and his servants, she placed a "time loop" on Belle's village to make doubly sure everyone stayed in the dark.

This makes sense. Belle is able to weave through the village without looking up from her book. Is that because the same thing is happening every day? After all, she does sing, "There goes the baker with his tray like always." Maybe "always" is more literal than we thought.

Gaston, LeFou, and Maurice's five-day forest search for Belle is head-scratching as well. Hainted notes that it seems unlikely their trip actually took five days. (If it did, the petals on Beast's rose fall at an astronomically slow pace.) A more logical explanation, in this user's opinion, is that Gaston's concept of time is altered because of the loop. Five hours might seem like five days.

There's also the Enchantress's presence in the town. At the end of the film, we learn that the village's resident "old hag" is actually her. Why would she stay there for all of those years? To keep an eye on her spell, perhaps?

And then there's the way the village people treat Belle and Maurice. For some unknown reason, everyone thinks Belle and Maurice are strange. Hainted's theory? It's because they age normally! (Because they moved into the village after the Enchantress set the loop.) Makes sense!